Constructional toy.



W. MIGHAELIS. GONSTBUOTIONAL TOY. APPLICATION FILED MAY 22, 1913'.

, 1,035,4 0, Patented Jan. 27, 1914 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

:Eiga. I1 5.

WITNESSES w. MIGHAELIS. GONSTRUGTIONAL TOY. APPLICATION FILED MAY 22, 14213.

1,085,460; Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES Para-NT orrron WILLIAM mcnanms, or LONDON, ENGLAND,assienon '10 ittlnnsmnn. METALL- a LACKIEBWABENFAIBRIK VORH. GEBR'U'DEBBING A.-G.,, OF HUBEHBERG, GER- consrnocnonnn m.

Specification of Letters Patent.

I Patented an. 27, 1914.

Application filed Ray 22, 1913. Serial No. 769,818.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Dr. WILLIAM MICHAE- us, asubject of the German Emperor, and a resident of London, England, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Constructional Toys, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The constructional toys hitherto known for making toy machines sufferfrom the disadvantage that the axles and shafts employed must be oflarger diameter at the places where they are rigidly connected withother parts of the construction than at the places where they are torevolve in astationary part.

As of course only bars or rods of uniform diameter throughout theirlength can be employed if the number of the parts to be kept in stock isnot to reach an indefinite quantity, all the constructional parts havehitherto been made of soft wood, and the instructions are that the barsshould be so far reduced, by rolling or pressing between two blocks,that they can easily rotate in the perforations in the blocks.v In orderto fasten wheels'on the ends of these bars, some linen or tough paper isslipped over the end of the bar, and for the same object strinfiriswrapped in the middle of the bar. Fina 1y 1f opportunity ofi'ers thewood may be' swollen by moistening it. All such means are in theirnature primitive and not applicable to constructional material ofgreater strength, for instance to metal or hard wood, and in any caseexceed the admissible demands on the intelligence of children.

It has hitherto not been possible to make the separate n elements of aconstructional toy in-such a way that toy machines can be made therefromwhich .canbe described as actually capable of working, as the use ofwooden constructional elements excludes this idea at once. Apart fromthis fundamental defect, the toys made from the ordinary constructionalelements have an external appearance which is unlike that of the realmachines. The causes of this are to be found'in the want of a suitableconnecting member for the rods or bars which cannot be dispensed with asconstructional elements.

. This invention has for its object to form the elements ofconstructional toys so as to remove all the disadvantages mentioned andenable working toy engines or machines externally like the originals tobe made. Ac-

cording to the invention, the connection of the bars is made by means ofseparatejoint members or unction pieces and wed e members. The wedgesare so formed t at the chlld easily learns how to make and releasetheconnection and does not require to employ any special ability.

the accompanying drawingsFigure 1 1s a s1d e elevation of a T-shapedjoint member; Fig. 2 is an end elevation, and Fig. 3 1s a plan, of thesame; Fig. 4 is a side elevatlon of the correspondin wedge member; Fig.5 1s an axial longitudinal section, and F g.6 is an end elevation,

1s a plan of the finished connection, inclu mg the oint member, the wede member and the rods or bars with whic they are associated Flgs. 8, 9,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, are views of dlflerent forms of joint members; FlgS.15, 16 and, 17 are respectivel a side elevatlon, end elevation, andplan, 0 a modified form of joint member; Figs. 18, 19 and 20 arerespectively a side elevation, end elevatlon, and longitudinal axialsection, of a wedge member of correspondin modified form; Fig. 21 is anelevation of a finished connection includin a wedge member, a rod orbar, and a T oint member having an annular flange or enlargement on eachone of its three ends; Fig. 22 is a section, at right angles to theaxis, of a ring member which when.fitted on a rodor bar is held securefrom lateral displacement on said rod while free to revolve thereon;Fig. 23 is an axial section of the same; Fig. 24 is an elevation of amodified torm of ring member having the shape of a wheel; Fig.25 is anelevation of a fimshed connect-ion m which ring members such as shown inFigs; 22 and 23 are employed.

A T-shaped piece is provided with bores 'b and c of the same diameter inboth arms. The width of the bores is such that the T- shaped giece canturn loosely and be easily displace on the cylindrical-rod d with theleast possible play. The bores are enlarged at the ends to form a wedgeshaped groove 6.

The wedge member 1 is .formed with a plate or head which provides-forhandling. A hole g of the exact width of the bores or passages in theT-shaped piece is provided in the center of the plate so that the wedgemember can also turn loosely and be easily displaced on a bar or rod.The member f has a wedge-shaped projection h, which exof the same; Fi

wedge easily slips into is curved on its inner face the contour of. thisbore, grooves e in theT-shaped piece.

' hereinbefore descri shaped projection,

tendsin. the axial direction of the bore corresponding to and fits intothe B sim l fittin to ether the two arts y P y ied it is easily possible to firmly connect the joint piece a with the rodor bar (2. :Thechild only requires to turn the wedge member relatively to the jointmember until the wed e projection stands opposite the groove, w ereuponthe the roove, when a slight pressure is applied. he wedge projection isressed inward so far that it rests firmly on -the bar, so that bothparts are now prevented" from turning and from being displacedlongitudinally relative to the bar. This connection may be made at anysuitable point on the bar.

The connection of the round rods or bars with other suitable jointmembers like those shown in Figs. 814, may be made in similar manner,and by means of these connection can be made withother rods or bars. Theform illustrated in Fig. 8 enables two rods or bars to be connected atan acute angle, and the joint member provided with four bores orpassages at ri ht angles to one another, as illustrated in four rodsstanding at right angles to one another to be connected together. Suchjoint members or unions are only capable of being made of strongmaterials.

0 course wedge pieces may be provided which have wedge-shapedprojections on bothsides. Also, instead of a single wedgea ring of alarger number, for instance, four such projectlons may be provided. Themanufacture of the unions or joint members is thereby simplified becausetheir respective wedge grooves as a whole form a conical enlargementwhich may be made by turning or milling. Such a joint member isillustrated in Figs. 1517, and the corresponding wedge member in Figs.18-20.

The j oint-member has at both ends of its longer bore, and at, the outerend of'its central bore, a conical enlargement m. A conical neck 0 whichis divided into four wedgeshaped projections by means of fourslots, isprovided on the wedge member f. In making the connection between theseparts it is unnecessary to turn the wedge member into a suitableposition relatively to the joint member. As, however, the pressure whichmust be exerted in fitting the two parts together is distributed overfour wedge-shaped tongues, while in the construction first describedonly a single tongue had to be pressed in, it appears doubtful Whether achild would be able to exert the necessary pressure .merely with. itsfingers to enable a firm connection to be made. Suitable plierstherefore are provided,

ig. 11, enables I sidewise of itself, but can still rotate.

adapted to take the parts between jaws and to press them together. Suchpliers form the subject of my application, for Letters Patent Ser. No;-80 5,969 filed December 11, 1913, constituting a division of thisapplication.

In the modified form of joint member shown-in Fig. 21, said member 1s.provided with annularly flanged or shouldered ends y to facilitate theuse of said pliers with joint members of different lengths, as morefully explained in my aforesaid divisional application, Ser. No.805,969.

In addition to the 'rodsor bars aZ, the joint members a and the wedgemembers .1 and 1, rings u may be employed which are passed on to therods (1 and secured against lateral displacement but not againstrotation, as is shown in Figs. 22-25.

A groove '0 is formed. in the ring it for receiving a clamping sprin mwhich projects beyond the inner perip ery of the-ring (Figs. 22, 23).When the ring is pushed on to a rod d against the resistance of thesprin any further displacement is prevente but it is quite possible toeasily rotate the ring on the rod. The end of the rod is enteredinto thesomewhat contracted opening in the ring, formed by the inwardlyprojecting-spring, ring is forcibly pushed by hand onto the rod, thespring, of course, will be expanded by the rod sufliciently to permit ofthis movement.

' Byforming the ring as a wheel hub (Fig. 24) no further attachment ofthe wheel is necessary. The spring' pressure is so calculated that thewheel will not be displaced rings may also be employed for securingbodies against displacement on the rods (1. Should a joint member, forexample, have to turn but not be displaced on a rod, a ring a is pushedagainst each of its end faces (Fig. 25). The possibility of the ring atrotating of itself does not in this case come into question. The arms ofthe joint be tapered and provided with axialslots. In this case thewedging is eifected by means of clamp rings provided with an inner cone.These are drawn over the arms of the joint moeimbers after their 'boreshave received the r s. I a

Any suitable kinds of working machines, transmissions and thelike, andalso models of working appliances, useful articles and buildingconstructions, can be made from the constructional elements.- I

-Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed',.I declarethat what I claim is:

-1. A constructional toy, more particularly for making toy machines,having three and then, as the Such members may also groups ofconstructional elements, to Wit:

cylindrical rods or bars, tubular joint members, and locklng membershaving an annular head tofit the rod or bar to which it is applied andone or more wedge-shaped prolongations adapted to enter correspondinglyshaped recesses in the joint members, and formed With a concave face tofit the rod or bar to which the locking member is applied, substantiallyas hereinbefore set.

forth.

2. A set of toy construction members comprising in combinationcylindrical rods 01' DR. WILLIAM MIGHAELIS.

. Witnesses:

OSCAR BooK, MAX PUSDENDORFF.

